Author's Notes: Alright, alright, alright! It is yet another Friday afternoon, and I have yet another chapter for you lovely people! Seriously, I don't say it enough, but you guys are awesome and your reviews really make my day. Thank you so much.

Lots of plot this chapter, but it's about time we figured out what was going on, yeah?

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Chapter 21

Emma finally bought Wallace and Vincent the drinks that she owed them.

They sat at a tavern in Tortuga, though it was a different one than last time. This time, it was the Jolly Sailor, and it was even rowdier than the Salty Dog. Since they had arrived, there had been three fights, two of which had ended in blood, and another that had resulted in death. The fatal fight had been an accident. Someone had slammed a bottle over someone else's head, and their drunken swing had hit the neck rather than the head, and the shattered glass had severed what Emma was willing to bet was the carotid artery.

The spray of blood was still on the wall, a good five feet arch that made her sick every time she looked at it.

So she sat in the very back, sandwiched between Killian and the wall as they talked over empty plates and full cups. Jack and Elizabeth sat across from them, though the couple suddenly seemed more like friends than lovers. Gone was the closeness that Emma had seen the night they'd celebrated Elizabeth's return. The two pirates sat near each other but at a respectable distance. Nothing at all like the way Killian's arm around her shoulder pressed them together and her hand rested on his knee beneath the table.

Emma wondered if they'd fought or if it was just Elizabeth and Jack being Elizabeth and Jack.

"I would go ahead and ask your question, Jones," Elizabeth finally said, startling Emma from her thoughts as she quickly glanced at Killian, who regarded Elizabeth steadily. "If you continue to bide your time, the opportunity will likely pass you by."

Killian took a drink. "Why would Davy Jones advise me to sail to Shipwreck Cove?"

Jack raised his eyebrows. "Now, that is interesting," he said, shooting a pointed look at Elizabeth that the woman ignored. Emma watched the exchange curiously. So they were arguing. "Don't you think that's interesting, love?"

"Jack, we've discussed this," she hissed.

"Aye, but only all by our onesies, savvy? Might be good to hear another opinion."

"As long as it coincides with yours, of course."

"Hey," Emma interrupted, holding up a hand. "What the hell is Shipwreck Cove?" She directed her question toward Killian, but it was Jack who answered.

"Shipwreck Cove is an island only known by us pirates," he explained. "You might call it our capitol, as it were. It's where the Court meets."

Emma arched an eyebrow. "Pirates have a Court?" she asked in disbelief, only to frown when Jack looked at Killian.

"Honestly, mate. Brilliant job you've done preparing her for this life," he said.

"I haven't exactly had the time," Killian argued.

"Well, you best find some because she doesn't look happy."

Emma rolled her eyes. "I just want to know what's going on," she said.

"Long ago the sea was not as free as it is now," Elizabeth explained. "There was a sea goddess, Calypso, who ruled the waters. However, like the sea, Calypso was prone to quick changes in temper, and she would bring terrible storms. Her anger continued to grow until the seas were too treacherous for even the best sailor to sail, and so Davy Jones, along with eight of the best captains, met at Shipwreck Cove in order to bind Calypso so that we could once again sail the seas."

"Each Captain declared themselves a Pirate Lord," Killian said. "With Jones as the Pirate King."

"And that Lordship was either passed down or taken," Jack finished. "Each Lord is denoted by a Piece of Eight, a token of sorts." He pointedly tapped a gold medallion in his hair. "Every so often, when the need arises, the Lords meet at the Brethren Court at the Cove. A need that I'm sure you can acknowledge, your Majesty," he said to Elizabeth.

Emma's brows rose. "Wait, you're the Pirate King? I thought that was Jones."

"He can only come on land for one day every ten years. Even for a pirate that's too inconsistent. I was voted King at the last meeting years ago," she said. She looked at Jack. "And I'm still not certain that a meeting of the Court is the wisest course of action."

"Calypso is free, isn't she?" Killian guessed.

"Tia Dalma contacted me last night," Elizabeth admitted. "She's a powerful witch and a friend to the Court. You've noticed how strange the seas have become," she said, glancing at Killian. "It's not natural."

"So we've got an angry goddess who probably wants all us pirates dead, don't we?"

"Yes."

Killian looked at Jack. "I'm with Sparrow. Call a meeting."

Elizabeth huffed. "In case the both of you have forgotten, Calypso is still revered by the majority of pirates, and if the legends are true, which I have no doubt that they are, she has the ability to grant any wish to a sailor that she deems worthy."

"For a price," Killian argued.

"Yes, and how many pirates do you know that are smart enough to deny their own greed?" Elizabeth snapped. "Even Davy Jones wasn't clever enough. He cut out his own heart as payment."

Emma frowned, trying to absorb all the information. "Still," she said. "Look, if Calypso can give you whatever you want, even for a price, that's dangerous. There's a reason why we don't always get what we want, and it's because if we did, the world would be even more fucked up than it already is." She ignored the way Jack's brow rose and Killian smirked. She focused on Elizabeth. "If you don't call a meeting and try to do some damage control, it'll be chaos once the word gets out." She glanced between the three pirates. "Is there any way we can bind her again?"

"That would be something to discuss at the Court," Elizabeth admitted reluctantly. "Tia Dalma insinuated that there was a way, yet it would require a sacrifice that no man would be willing to make."

"What sacrifice?"

"She wouldn't say."

"Helpful," Killian scoffed.

Emma pinched his thigh. He wasn't being helpful, either. She pinned Elizabeth with a calculating look. "So, let me get this straight," she said. "You've got all the reason in the world to call the Court together, but you're hesitating. Sounds to me like you're more worried about someone taking your crown."

Elizabeth arched an eyebrow. "Am I?"

"See, from what I can tell, it sounds like there's gonna be a lot of people willing to throw in their lot with Calypso. I mean, who wouldn't back a goddess who can give them whatever they want? Of course, that leads to a civil war, and you're odds just aren't looking that great."

To Emma's surprise, Elizabeth didn't glare. She didn't snap or curse. She didn't react at all. She merely sat and met Emma's gaze with a blank stare that held not even a twitch of emotion. Emma couldn't read anything in her eyes. Elizabeth's thoughts were flying too fast.

Then, finally, Elizabeth smirked. She took a sip of her wine, chuckling into the glass. "You'll make quite the pirate, Emma," she said. "I shall call a meeting." Glancing at Killian, she said, "We'll leave for Shipwreck Cove at dawn."

"Aye."

Elizabeth left to send word to the other Lords, leaving Jack to stare after her and shake his head. "I gave her the same argument last night," he complained as he pointed an accusing finger at Emma. "And the bloody wench listens to you."

"I'm sure it sounded more logical coming from me."

"No, no, no. That's not what this is. This is a just Swans being . . . Swans. Sticking together like a little flock of . . . woman."

"Woman?"

"Aye. Big woman. Powerful woman." He flapped his arms like wings. "Stubborn woman."

"Jack," Emma said slowly. "Remember how Elizabeth shot at you?"

His eyes turned wary. "Aye."

Emma just smiled, entirely too calm, and he pointed in a random direction over his shoulder. "I'm going over there."

Killian watched Jack leave with a pleased smile before turning his head to nuzzle Emma's hair. "Well done, love," he praised. "I always knew there was a pirate in you."

"Don't think you're off the hook, buddy," she said. "Come on. Let's go back to the ship."

She stood, grabbing his hand, and Killian willingly followed after her. "You know, darling, it's when you say things like that that I have a hard time believing I'm in trouble."

"Oh, you're in trouble. Big trouble."

"Are you going to punish me, Swan?" She glared at him. He winced. "Unfortunately not, I gather."

Emma led him to the Jolly in silence, weaving through the hectic crowd and keeping an eye out for stray bullets. When they reached the docks, Emma eyed the sea warily, watching the way the waves climbed the sides of the ships strangely like searching claws. The wind was heavy and crisp and reminded her more of a scream. By the time she was in the cabin, her hair was a windblown mess and her clothes were damp from the sea spray.

She dropped Killian's hand. "Why didn't you tell me you were a Pirate Lord?"

"That's what this is about?" Killian asked with a frown. "Love, when was I supposed to tell you? There are a lot of things that you don't know about me, just as I'm sure there hundreds of things that I do not know about you."

Emma sighed and put her hands on her hips. "I know, I know," she said, frustrated. "I'm just . . . I'm tired." She plopped down onto the bed. "Everything's just happening too fast. I need a break."

"Aye," Killian agreed as he cautiously sat next to her. "I know what you mean. After this, I say we find an island. Just you and me."

Emma smiled. "What about the crew?"

"We'll drop them in some port. They'll be fine. Now," he took her hand, "what's on your mind, love?"

"Everything," she mumbled. "I'm just . . . it's like this whole time I've been here, I've been studying for a test. But I just keep learning more and more stuff and I can't fit it all in my brain. First it's Davy Jones and a freaking heart in a box and then my hand is glowing and now there's a vengeful sea goddess."

Killian grinned. "If it makes you feel any better, Swan, I promise my life is not typically so . . . illustrious."

Emma snorted. "No that doesn't make me feel better, actually, because that means it's me."

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

She smiled faintly. "You're sweet for a Pirate Lord."

Killian scoffed before falling back onto the bed and pulling her down with him. Emma tangled her legs with his and contentedly laid her head on his chest. Her fingers began to play with the charms on his necklace as his danced over the swell of her hip. "Where's your token?" she asked.

"Let's say I didn't get my ear pierced for vanity," he replied, causing Emma to sit up so she could look at the black earring that she had noticed the second she met him. "Even though," he added. "It makes me look even more dashing than usual."

"Who gave it to you?"

Killian's fingers stilled on her hip. "No one, love," he admitted. "I took it for myself."

Emma didn't frown. She was very proud of that. She fought for an expressionless look instead. "You killed someone for it," she said.

"Aye."

"Who?"

"Swan—"

"I'm not judging, Killian," she said, surprised by her honesty. It was strangely easy to accept that he'd killed someone for an earring as long as it was in the past. "I just want to know." She flicked the earring lightly. "It's part of you."

Killian closed his eyes, but his hand began to move over her skin once again, slipping under her shirt to rub the small of her back. Emma thought the action was more a comfort for him than for her. "His name was Beckett. He was a ruthless man. Young, like me. I'd hardly been sailing under a pirate flag for a year before I heard tales of the Brethren Court and the Pieces of Eight. It was a strategic move, on my part. I needed the power the title would give me." He glanced at her. "I still had too much of a reputation as an officer," he said. "Less of a pirate, and more like a rebellious child. I wanted to set things straight."

"I found out that he came to Tortuga once a month. He kept a few whores in one of the brothels, and he could never stay away long." Killian flinched. "He wasn't a good man, Emma," he said, needing to make sure that she knew that. "I'd planned to catch him off-guard at the brothel, but he arrived earlier than I expected and by the time I got there, he was already with one of the lasses. She was screaming. I'd have killed him for that alone."

Emma began to trail her fingers in random patterns over his chest. "Sounds like he deserved it," she said.

Killian didn't agree nor disagree. "I killed him, took the earring. Bloody bastard didn't even wear it. Kept it in a leather pouch in his pocket."

"What about the girls?"

"I bought them a room at one of the nicer taverns," he said. "Gave them enough gold to leave town, if they wanted."

Emma smiled fondly. "Good form, Captain," she said, but when he didn't immediately respond with a quip, she frowned. "I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to upset you."

Killian managed a faint smile. "Not your fault, love. The stories of my past are rarely light."

"I still want to know all of them."

"I know. Can't quite believe it, but I know."

"What do you think is going to happen? At Court."

"I don't know, Swan, yet I have a feeling that it won't end well." Killian frowned. "Elizabeth's right to worry. By no means are the Lords loyal to her. She's only King because when it came to a vote, instead of voting for himself like everyone else, Jack voted for her. Or so the story goes."

Emma smirked. "That sounds like him." She looked up at him. "Whose side are you on?"

His arm tightened around her. "I'm on our side, love."

She sighed as she once again began to fiddle with the charms on his necklace. Eventually, she said, "You know that bad feeling you have? I've got it, too."

Hector Barbosa was a man who always knew what he wanted and how he planned to get it. He was a man unburdened by love or remorse. He only knew his greed and his pride, both of which easily served to help him gain what he desired and yet also threatened to end him. The latter was something he rarely thought about, and so when opportunity struck, he didn't pause to think that he might be making a terrible mistake.

Losing the key to the chest had enraged him. Being bested by that fool Killian Jones had been an insult. A fluke. A stroke of luck. Yet it had ultimately cost him the heart of Davy Jones, and so his hope to find a cure for his blasted curse had been squashed.

His alliance with Norrington had deteriorated quickly. Without promises of controlling the seas with the heart, the Commodore had no reason to stand his presence and had attempted to throw him overboard. Yet Barbosa had experience with mutinies, and it had taken him little effort to turn a crew of Naval sailors into rotten pirates. A few promises here, some trickery there.

It was all too easy.

He'd made Norrington walk the plank. Stupid ponce had done it as if the wooden slat had been paved with gold.

So he had let Killian Jones and Jack Sparrow dive into the Locker. He trusted that they would retrieve Elizabeth and return. Even he wasn't so blinded to admit that Sparrow had the brains and Jones the tenacity to make it out of the Locker alive. And he knew the moment that they had succeeded.

A ripple of pure power had shuddered across the waves the moment they had returned. Immediately, the seas had begun to churn, the wind to howl, and Barbosa knew exactly what that meant. The heart had been returned to Davy Jones, and so the curse had been broken.

Calypso was free.

Calypso, who just so happened to be able to grant any wish.

Barbosa stood at the water's edge on a lone stretch of beach, the lights and sounds of Tortuga behind him. The water continued to lap at his boots, like a curious tongue, but he only walked further into the surf. Then he knelt and took off his hat. "Calypso," he called. "I come before ye as naught but a servant. Long have I awaited your freedom so that I may sail under your flag. I humbly ask that you grant me an audience."

Seconds passed without any sign that his words had been heard, and yet Barbosa still waited. His patience paid off. The wind suddenly began to shriek, and the waves roared, spinning up in a cyclone of water until with a splash, a woman stood before him. She looked like a nymph with willowy limbs and a sharp smile.

Flame red hair swayed in the breeze, falling over one eye as she cocked her head and studied him intently. "Your intentions are not pure, pirate," she said. "Though your kind know nothing of purity."

"Aye, that much is true," Barbosa agreed. "I admit I called ye here for me own selfish reasons."

She stared at him, unblinking. "You are cursed by Death."

"That I am."

"You wish me to undo it."

"I do."

"No."

"I thought ye might say that, milady," he said. "And so I'm here to warn ye."

"Warn me?" Calypso laughed. It sounded like wind chimes. "Of what, might I ask?"

"The Brethren Court intends to meet in order to bind you once more."

The change that came over the goddess was abrupt and monstrous. Her skin suddenly darkened to an ugly green, her teeth elongating into fangs as she screeched in rage. The sea soared up behind her in a tidal wave that crashed against the docks, snapping the beams and causing the whole structure to crack and collapse.

Barbosa did not flinch. In fact, he smiled.

"Curse that Davy Jones!" she hissed. "He will not trap me again. He will not. He will not. He's just a petty man with hurt feelings. I will not be a prisoner in my own realm."

"I have a proposal, milady," Barbosa said.

She glared at him. "Speak it."

"I am one of the eight Pirate Lords," he explained. "I hold great sway amongst the rest, who hold no love for the current King. I can assure you that they will willingly sail under your banner. You may not know it, but you have a ready army. Because you can be assured that Davy Jones will come for you again, to finish the job, and this time he has help."

Calypso hissed. "From who?"

Barbosa's answering smile was nasty. "His grandson," he said. "Killian Jones. And I believe, milady, that you know what that means. Jones has everything he needs to kill you."

"I cannot be killed. I am immortal."

"What a coincidence, so am I, and here's where I name my terms."

"You insolent fool!"

Calypso raised her arm, and a stream of water whipped from her hand to wrap around Barbosa's face. It would have drowned an ordinary man, yet Barbosa only laughed. "You can't kill me, milady," he said. "So you'll just have to listen to what I have to say."

The water fell away from his face, and he smiled. "I know what you want most. As it just so happens, I want the same thing."

"And what is that?"

"Vengeance. Power. Everything," he said simply. "I want everything."

"What makes you think I will give it to you?"

"Because I can get you an army," Barbosa said. "At the Court, I can stand against the King and her allies, few that they are, and draw a line in the sand. And when the battle comes, all you have to do is wipe them out."

"And what do you get out of this?"

"I get to be King," Barbosa said with a smile. "I get to have a fleet of ships to call my own."

Calypso scowled. "I fail to see how this benefits me."

"Aye, you see, milady, if you take up arms against the Brethren, then I will be sure that you are never threatened again." Barbosa smirked. "I'll kill Killian Jones."

A wide, slow smile spread across Calypso's face. "Aye," she said. "You have a deal, pirate."

So, just to make sure we're on the same page.

1) Calypso is free because Jones has his heart back. More on that later. 2) Barbosa is a selfish bastard. 3) Somehow Killian is the key to killing Calypso once and for all. More on that later.

Now you just get to wonder the hows and whys!

In the meantime, next time in Run, Baby Run . . . "I wonder what the world would think if they knew that the dread pirate Killian Jones liked to cuddle." - Emma

See you Friday!

-AC